*not* providing a library for these things is the key. for example, page doesn't link against the jpeg library. it just runs jpg. nedmail doesn't link against the mime library, it uses upas/fs and marshal.
if plan 9 provided fancy library interfaces for such things, we might be temted by the sirens "shared libraries" and "oop languages". - erik On Fri Aug 11 02:22:13 CDT 2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > On 8/10/06, Ronald G Minnich <[email protected]> wrote: > > "Sure, some other languages have libraries for accessing web or ftp > > sites, or looking inside zip files. But how many provide an open ended > > and extensible system that allows you to access any such resource using > > the same I/O commands you'd use with regular disk files?" > > > > C++ iostreams perhaps? I've got one for sockets, pipes etc... Now > that's not the same as FTP sites and zip files, but it could be done. > Then you can use the same iterators and algorithms to glue it all > together. In fact, I think I saw a zlibstream once. I was thinking > of writing one. > > It's done via a blend of template generic programming and OOP. Too > bad C++ quickly becomes quite confusing and is very easy to abuse and > make difficult to maintain (probably an understatement). > > Plan 9 gives me a lot of that power right at the shell because the OS > multiplexes 9P so well. > > > > hmm. in the language library? Well, I guess if that's all you can do ... > > but this is a really odd quote. > > > > And I actually like tcl ... > > > > ron
